REAL reason New York Knicks FIRED Tom Thibodeau | THE HERD NBA

REAL reason New York Knicks FIRED Tom Thibodeau | THE HERD NBA

We got to go to New York now to figure out who put the knife in Tom Tibido’s back. Let’s go to Mitch Lawrence who’s covered the Knicks forever, NBA writer, host SiriusXM. He’s got an amazing background there as you can see. Uh, all right Mitch. So, we were talking during the commercial break and you described the Garden as a pitull of vipers. Can you kind of break down what happened because Tibido just led the Knicks to their best season this century and and then he gets axed. Yeah, I mean he had the best playoff run since 1999 and the fans were partying like it was 1999 and all of a sudden he’s the guy who’s the scapegoat. Uh it is Listen, the Garden front office is full of vipers. These are guys who have their own agendas, whatever they are. They leak stuff to the media. They want certain people in, certain people out, and they add it in for Tom. It goes beyond basketball, Jason. It goes beyond he didn’t develop a bench. It goes beyond guys didn’t know their roles. It goes beyond, you know, he didn’t have an offensive imagination. This goes beyond all that stuff. And now we’re going to see who Jim Dolan, the owner, you know, who gets his ear and who he talks to and who they settle on as the next coach and say, “This is what I when I was, you know, based in New York and at the New York Daily News doing 21 years of NBA columns, this was familiar ground for anybody who dealt with the Knicks and dealt with Jim Dole. It is a it’s a it’s a treacherous place if you’re a coach because you’re the guy who’s the face of the franchise. They don’t let Leon Rose talk. Dolan doesn’t talk. So Tom Tivido was the guy who had a talk. They don’t hel nobody’s held accountable in terms of Leon Rose or Jim Dolan. And um you know stuff like this happens. It’s a very it’s it’s run differently than any other organization. And it’s been unsuccessful in a lot of ways. Uh, you know, it’s the anti-Spurs, anti- Miami, whatever you want to call it, they do things their own way. And for the most part, before time came on board, they were irrelevant and a dumpster fire. And they I think Nick fans probably fear now that’s the road they’re headed back on. Yeah. Especially if you don’t make the right hire. So, um, who would you say has the biggest pull or the most pull in making the hire? Is it Dolan who’s kind of been out of the mix? you know, he was with the sphere in Vegas building that um is it Leon Rose. Do the players have a say here? We know it’s a players league. Um I mean Jaylen Brunson couldn’t save Tibs, but how how do you break that down? Jayen Jaylen Brunson like Tibs, so he they didn’t listen to him. So you also have to wonder what that means for him, especially if they get rid of his father who’s on the bench. I think that has to be a concern for Nick fans, too. Listen, I think it’s going to probably be a few people. It’ll be Leon Rose. They’ll run it by Dolan. Dolan will, you know, do his checks. It’s hard to tell. It’s It’s because nobody really talks publicly. Like, what they should do is have Leon Rose out there today to say, “This is why we fired Tom Tibido. I’m going to take questions and answers. And by the way, this is what we’re looking for in our next coach.” Give people an idea of what they’re going for. But the Knicks don’t do things like that like other teams. They don’t make people, you know, like Pat Riley goes public after his team gets wiped off the court against Cleveland and he’s own he owns up to stuff. The Knicks don’t do that. So, you never know their game plan. So, it’s very hard to say exactly how it’s all going to run or who’s going to have the power, who’s going to, you know, who wants who out there. It’s all you’re always dealing with a lot of mystery at the Garden. Yeah. And it feels like I I don’t know if you use the word accountability, but like uh Leon Rose, who like shouldn’t you step up and meet the media and talk about this? I mean, that seems like the the way we should do it. No, everybody does it that way in the league. Uh I mentioned Pat Riley, Brad Stevens, when thing went south for Boston this year, the defending champs, he met with the media. I think he had Daryl My Nurse meet in Philadelphia. Nobody had a worse year expectationwise than probably Philadelphia. Jim Dolan doesn’t want his people like Leon Rose and other GMs before him to speak publicly. He kind of has an ant, you know, you hear teams having a, you know, a media policy. He has an anti-dia policy. That’s for as long as I, you know, for the longest time and a lot of it dates back to that sexual harassment case and, you know, post that in 2007, that’s already 18 years where Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks got in big trouble. Thought it cost Dolan $12 million. After that, the league basically held sway David Stern over the Knicks. That’s when they hired Donnie Walsh. Jim Dolan listened to the NBA then. But since then, he he does things his way. He’s not going to have Leon Rose at all talk to the media. The next coach will be the face of the franchise, just like Tom was, Tom Tibido, which adds to, you know, the pressure of the job in New York. Now you’re the coach. Not only you have to coach the team, prepare the team, now you’re also the face and the voice of the franchise. Puts a lot of pressure on that next coach. Besides the fact that obviously the next coach has a very high bar, you got to come in, you got to win 11 playoff games because Tom just won a 10. Uh I’m going to throw some names at you. You tell me your thoughts. But first, uh the Phoenix Suns have just announced that they have hired Cavs assistant Jordan. You know, whoever that is. Um, I I don’t know that that is a move based on what the Knicks were doing, but there is a guy, Johnny Bryant, whose name is being bandied about as a potential Knicks candidate. I I I don’t think you go from Tom Tibido to Johnny Bryant, do you? Well, I don’t think so either, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. And he seems to be the front runner right now. He was in New York. Now, you mentioned Jordan not getting the Phoenix job. Johnny Bryant was also up for that job. So, um, now he works in Cleveland for Kenny Atinson, but he had been in New York. He’s familiar with the front office. People are familiar with him. He’s got he’s got people who hope he gets a job. He has people who, from my understanding, who hope he doesn’t get the job. Listen, if you think you’re a championship contender, and I don’t think the Knicks are, I think they’re a decent cut below with that roster with their two best players being one-way offensive players and defensive liabilities. I’m talking about Jaylen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns. You’ve built around those those guys. Um I don’t think you can bring in a guy like a Johnny Bryant who’s never been a head coach certainly, you know, and and all of a sudden entrust him to actually exceed what Tom Tibido did. I think that’s an impossible spot for him. And I think that’s a thing that I think Nick fans have to be worried about. Yeah. Um uh Michael Malone was fired by Denver maybe two months ago. Yeah, he feels like Tibido 2.0 doesn’t like to play young guys, rides his starters, like that was an issue for Tibs, I would cross Michael Malone off the list. Your thoughts? Just based on that, well, I will say this. If you go back to his Denver team and he had Jokic, I know SGA is the MVP, but this is like back in the Michael Jordan era. When Carl Malone won the MVP, we all knew that Michael Jordan was the best player in the world. Just like now we know that Jokic is the best player in the world. He only He only had a bench of basically three guys, Jeff Green, Bruce Brown, and Christian Brown. That’s it. They won the title that way. So, if you’re hung up on this bench nonsense that he won’t play your bench, I mean, think of it this way. If Tom Tibido, is he really the first coach in the history of the NBA and maybe sports to get fired because he didn’t he didn’t develop a bench? It’s absurd. It’s absurd. Look who’s on his bench. Mike Malone had a great bench with those three players versus what Tom Tibido had to work with. But anyway, that’s a whole different story. I would hire Mike Malone. He knows New York. His father coached in New York. I knew Brendan Malone when he was an assistant in Syracuse when I started out in the newspaper racket in 1980. I go back that far when Michael Malone was running around in basically diapers. Yeah. I think he’s a hell of a coach now. 10 years in Denver, long time. Won a title. maybe got a little full of himself. That’s what people say. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Mike since then, but he’s a very good coach. And let’s not forget, where was he before he landed in Denver and did a great job, their first title ever? He was in Sacramento. He did a great job there for a franchise that continues to, you know, I mean, that’s just like total dysfunction out there except for a few moments, right? Except for a very few moments. And Mike Malone did a good job there. I think Nick fans would actually say, “You know what? If we get Mike Malone, yeah, we can go places.” And not worry about what he did with his bench in Denver. Just look at his accomplishments. The only thing though, Jason, is is he going to come in, you’re going to say, “Well, he had, you know, let’s see how he does without yoga.” Yeah, that’s tough. All right, let me throw one more at you. Um, he’s currently coaching the Dallas Mavericks and his name is Jason Kid. He played with the Knicks. Obviously, he was not brought in uh to talk about the Luca deal. He looked shell shocked at the press conference afterward. Um I are are the Knicks an upgrade from the Mavs? I I I don’t know. Jason Kid’s an interesting name. It is an interesting name. You know, if you look at the Knicks in terms of where they are in the East, you know, Indiana’s there now. Boston’s not going to have Tatum for probably a year, but they’re going to be back. You’ve got Detroit on the rise. Orlando, we’ll see what happens in Milwaukee with Giannis. The Knicks, uh, you know, they’re going to they’re probably going to take a step back with a new coach. I don’t know how Jason, first of all, he has a job in Dallas. Like, you raised the point with his roster. He’s not going to have Kyrie Irving for a while. He’ll have Anthony Davis. We know that Anthony Davis cannot stay on the court at points, but he’s going to get Cooper Flag, right? They It sounds like they’re going to keep that draft pick and they’ll pick Cooper Flag. So, it would have to be some sort of a trade to get Jason Kid. They’re going to have to get some sort of compensation. And who knows what Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont, the the owner, are thinking these days about Jason Kid. I have no idea. All I know is that the Maverick fans are still I rateate that Luca Donic is a Laker. That has not gone away. Yeah. All right. Mitch Lawrence, uh, NBA writer, serious serious XM host. Great stuff. I like the blue Nicks, uh, shirt, turtleneck. Nice job, uh, Mitch. Thanks a lot, man. Thanks for having me, Jason. enjoyed

Jason McIntyre is joined by New York Knicks insider Mitch Lawrence to react to Tom Thibodeau being fired. Mitch explains why the New York Knicks front office is “full of vipers” after the team moved on from the coach after losing to the Indiana Pacers. Will NY’s next coach be able to bring Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to the Eastern Conference Finals?

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